Free Devil's Frost, Spellspinners Series #3 (The Spellspinners of Melas County) by Heidi R. Kling

Daisy sit with a stopwatch on the beach while I experimented, hovering close to the surface just in case, discovering just how long I could last without oxygen.
    Maybe I was always preparing for this moment. Maybe somehow I knew one day my Breathing would be tested—in a battle of life and death, between good and evil—but I always imagined I would be alone.
    We had a half hour more—maybe longer with the amulet on our side—with this serpent whipping us through the water. An age-old question filled my mind: if you had only an hour to live, what would you do?
    The serpent dove deeper.
    Come up with me . I pulled on Logan’s shoulder, and he slung his leg over our ride’s meaty back. I curled my arms around him, holding him close.
    I don’t know if it was from lack of oxygen or what, but our view was now an underwater dream of rainbows and natural magic hidden deep below the ice. We weaved through schools of apricot fish that morphed into mermaids and, giggling, swam away. We darted through brilliant blue coral castles where seahorse villages perched. I heard singing. Garbled, eerie, and a sort of beautiful song. A ballad of sirens, of lost fisherman? The source of the voices was unknown, but I felt they were calling to me, keeping me awake, keeping me alive.
    Even though I knew I was probably hallucinating most of it, the truth was, my brain was fading and I was succumbing slowly to a new state of being. Hope crept into my heart.
    I pressed my cheek into the serpent’s back, soaking in its warmth. We’re going to make it, Logan. I can feel it.

Chapter 7: Just Breathe
    Logan’s skin was so cold. From behind, I wrapped my arms around him as tightly as I could, rubbing his arms, his back; his pulse had slowed. The serpent changed his position and headed toward the surface, and I knew once we were under the sheet of ice, Logan would suffer even more. I shifted my weight, swinging my legs around to the front of him. Straddling the serpent, I faced him, burying my chest into Logan’s. I wrapped my arms around his waist and focused on a spell, a warming, healing spell.
    He dipped his face into my neck, body slumped and worn.
    The amulet throbbed between us, but even its magic was running out.
    I could give Logan my warmth, and I could give him my magic, but I couldn’t give him my breath.
    I couldn’t help him Breathe.
    Everything was growing spotty.
    Lights flickered. Lack of oxygen. The bends.
    Even in my disoriented state I felt the breakneck speed at which we were now traveling. I bent forward as I braced for the ice.
    The ice was thinner here. It shifted, cracked.
    The moon shone brilliantly through. Beckoning us.
    Break through. Please break through.
    A clap loud as thunder. And then everything went black.
     
     
    Dark blue sky. Stars. Waves crashing, not over us, but in the distance. My fingers grasped a handful of wet sand.
    “Logan?”
    I tried to sit up. I tried to scream his name, but all that rose from my throat was a desperate whisper.
    “I’m here, Lily. I’m right here.” He bent over me. His face was blurry. I clawed at the air, swiping at his face, sure it was part of my dream. Part of my death.
    My fingers stopped on something warm. Warm skin. Warm hands covered my freezing ones.
    “I’m here, Lily. I’m here.”
    I heard those words over and over again until my eyes finally were able to focus, and it was true. There he was.
    “Are we okay?”
    A small smile. “I think so.”
    His face was inches away from mine now. Then his head was on my chest and I moved stray, wet hair from his forehead. When he looked up at me, I saw his eyes. So stormy-ocean blue before—now they flickered orange and red. Flickered Fire. Sad and furious all at once, these new eyes. I was lost in them for a long, long time as I felt my breath even out under the stars. As I felt my lungs fill with oxygen, as my outer extremities, my fingertips, my toes, began to tingle, and until I felt more parts alive than dead.